The French health authority has reported an 11-year record spike in locally acquired cases of dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease that can cause hemorrhagic fever and death, particularly in children, in 2022
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2023) The French health authority has reported an 11-year record spike in locally acquired cases of dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease that can cause hemorrhagic fever and death, particularly in children, in 2022.
"Endemic transmission of the disease (not associated with the importation of the virus from abroad) increased. An increase in the number of cases has been recorded: the total number of cases in 2022 exceeded the total number for the period from 2010 to 2021 (66 cases against 48)," the authority said in a report.
The total number of dengue cases registered in 2022, including non-indigenous ones, stood at 378. France also had 23 cases of infection with mosquito-borne chikungunya virus and six cases of Zika virus infections last year.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in the latest report that the surge in the number of locally acquired dengue cases throughout the European Union was driven by increasingly warm weather and frequent floods that created favorable conditions for the mosquito species Aedes albopictus, a known vector of dengue and chikungunya viruses.
ECDC's June figures showed that the invasive mosquito species has spread from eight southern EU members to 12 plus Liechtenstein over the past decade. There were 71 locally acquired dengue cases in Europe in 2022, mainly in France, versus 74 recorded between 2010 and 2021.
